ODE TO THE COMMON COLD

You come silently
shrouded in a mysterious
invisibility of
what they call virus,
they give you glorious epithets -
nasopharyngitis, acute viral rhino pharyngitis.

The body welcomes you
the prince of illnesses
for commoners
with a sore throat,watery eyes
and the elaborate rituals
of cough and fever.

In the reign of congestion
the first casualty
is common sense,
the mental faculties
give up due to the blocked gates
of the brain

then you teach me
to cough myself awake
and everything tastes
like stale rice cake

the gain however
my dear benign illness
is the Bachchanesque baritone
in which one can try
that prank call
to a rude boss,
or a horrible ex-'s home.

So the deal is sealed
with every sneeze
you hope to
expand territory
and I bask
in the glory of being
semi-ill.